{"id":6646,"date":"2023-07-18T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-07-18T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/?p=6646"},"modified":"2023-07-04T13:05:07","modified_gmt":"2023-07-04T13:05:07","slug":"meltwater-is-hydro-fracking-greenlands-ice-sheet-through-millions-of-hairline-cracks-destabilizing-its-internal-structure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/meltwater-is-hydro-fracking-greenlands-ice-sheet-through-millions-of-hairline-cracks-destabilizing-its-internal-structure\/","title":{"rendered":"Meltwater is hydro-fracking Greenland\u2019s ice sheet through millions of hairline cracks \u2013 destabilizing its internal structure"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Richard Bates and Alun Hubbard kayak a meltwater stream on Greenland\u2019s Petermann Glacier, towing an ice radar that reveals it\u2019s riddled with fractures.\n Nick Cobbing.<\/span><\/span>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n\nAlun Hubbard<\/a>, University of Troms\u00f8<\/a><\/em><\/span>\n\n

I\u2019m striding along the steep bank of a raging white-water torrent, and even though the canyon is only about the width of a highway, the river\u2019s flow is greater than that of London\u2019s Thames. The deafening roar and rumble of the cascading water is incredible \u2013 a humbling reminder of the raw power of nature.<\/p>\n\n

As I round a corner, I am awestruck at a completely surreal sight: A gaping fissure has opened in the riverbed, and it is swallowing the water in a massive whirlpool, sending up huge spumes of spray. This might sound like a computer-generated scene from a blockbuster action movie \u2013 but it\u2019s real.<\/p>\n\n

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\n Alun Hubbard stands beside a moulin forming in a meltwater stream on the Greenland ice sheet.<\/span>\n Courtesy of Alun Hubbard<\/span><\/span>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n\n

A moulin is forming right in front of me on the Greenland ice sheet. Only this really shouldn\u2019t be happening here \u2013 current scientific understanding doesn\u2019t accommodate this reality.<\/p>\n\n

As a glaciologist<\/a>, I\u2019ve spent 35 years investigating how meltwater affects the flow and stability of glaciers and ice sheets.<\/p>\n\n

This gaping hole that\u2019s opening up at the surface is merely the beginning of the meltwater\u2019s journey through the guts of the ice sheet. As it funnels into moulins, it bores a complex network of tunnels through the ice sheet<\/a> that extend many hundreds of meters down, all the way to the ice sheet bed. <\/p>\n\n

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